Prosecutors are seeking a 17-year prison sentence for Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira

BOSTON prosecutors plan to argue that a Member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who pleaded guilty to leaking top-secret military documents about the war in Ukraine would serve nearly 17 years in prison.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday, prosecutors said Jack Teixeira “committed one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history.”

“As a member of the United States Armed Forces and a license holder, the defendant took an oath to defend the United States and protect its secrets – secrets that are vital to U.S. national security and the physical safety of Americans who serve abroad.” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira violated his oath almost every day for over a year.”

Teixeira’s attorneys will argue that U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani should sentence him to 11 years in prison. He will be sentenced on November 12.

In their sentencing memorandum, they acknowledged that their client “made a terrible decision that he repeated for fourteen months.”

“It is a crime that deserves serious consequences,” the lawyers wrote. “Jack has fully accepted responsibility for the wrongfulness of his actions and stands ready to accept any punishment.”

Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to six counts of knowingly retaining and transmitting national defense information under the Espionage Act, nearly a year after he was arrested in the largest national security breach in years.

The 22-year-old admitted to illegally collecting some of the country’s most sensitive secrets and sharing them with other users on the social media platform Discord.

When Teixeira pleaded guilty, prosecutors said they would seek a prison sentence at the high end of the sentencing range. But the defense wrote Tuesday that the 11 years “are serious and sufficient to address deterrence considerations and would essentially equal half of the life Jack has lived to date.”

Describing Teixeira as autistic, isolated and spending most of his time online, especially with his Discord community, his lawyers said Teixeira’s actions, while criminal, were never intended to “harm the United States.” He also had no previous criminal record.

“Instead, his intention was to inform his friends about world events to ensure they were not misled by misinformation,” the lawyers wrote. “For Jack, the war in Ukraine was the Second World War or Iraq of his generation, and he needed someone to share the experience with.”

Prosecutors, however, countered that Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that prevents him from knowing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira’s post-arrest diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning autism” is of questionable relevance in these proceedings.

“Whatever development or social problems Teixeira may have faced, his decision to illegally release national defense information and endanger the lives of other people was a voluntary choice that he made time and time again consciously, deliberately and with full realized the consequences. ,” the prosecutors wrote.

The security breach raised alarm about America’s ability to protect its best-kept secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to limit the diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon tightened controls to protect classified information and disciplined members was found to have deliberately failed to take required action against Teixeira’s suspicious behavior.

Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cybertransportation systems specialist, which is essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. He remains in an unpaid status with the Air National Guard, an Air Force official said.

Authorities said he first typed up classified documents he had gained access to and then began sharing photos of files marked SECRET and TOP SECRET. Prosecutors also said he tried to cover his tracks before his arrest, and authorities found a broken tablet, laptop and Xbox gaming console in a dumpster at his home.

The leak that exposed the world revealed unvarnished secret assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including information on troop movements in Ukraine and the delivery of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian forces. Teixeira also admitted to posting information about a U.S. adversary’s plans to harm U.S. troops serving abroad.